The GROOVIER New Pop Century FAQ Thread Chapter 4! ~ Posts #1, #2 & #3 are MUST sees!

[Disneylvr]

Did someone say being crammed into a bus is enchanting?

Please don't get defensive - we were simply commenting on why some of us prefer the bus, it was not a judgement on those who prefer to drive.

I do find the monorail enchanting, even in crowded circumstances. That is just part of the MK experience in my opinion. You miss out on that when riding the buses to MK
I didn't mean to sound defensive but I have been through the debate before, buses vs. driving where each side started attacking the other. The buses simply don't work for our family and I should of left it at that. I apologize.

 

[DizFan13]

I am so grateful for the DIS boards. I love hearing the different opinions and experiences, since it helps me make informed decisions. We are going to keep everything as it is, and enjoy our first completely immersed experience. We will deal with waiting for buses if we need to. Previous posters helped jog my memory that driving is no picnic either; we have stayed off site many times, and the driving/parking/tram does take a chunk of time, so it seems like a trade-off to me.

This trip may be the last time we go to WDW as a family, since my boys are 16 and 14. My oldest will graduate after the coming school year and be off on his way. Of course I hope he'll still join us for family trips, but there is no telling how things will differ once he is living on his own. This is a special trip, and that's why we wanted to stay on site and do everything Disney-style.

Side-note: What I now think is funny is that we are staying the last two nights at AKL, and it sounds like the buses there will be the ones to test our patience!

 

[HoltDisney07]

We have a lot of early morning ADR's at other resorts and we didn't want the hassle of changing buses or having to leave at 7am to make an 8 or 8:30am ADR. I looked into renting a car and found an awesome deal. We went with Alamo located at the Walt Disney Car Care Center. We have a standard SUV for 10 days for $358. When booking I signed up for their Insiders club (free) which gave me 10% off and had a coupon for $40 off a week rental. Not too bad, renting this from the airport would have cost double.

I priced out the taxis estimates from Pop and that would have been just about $200 not including tips, if you are the kind that tips on a taxi. So I guess $150 more is worth it to have a car for 10 days.

I loved the buses our last visit, but having three little ones at the end of a grueling park day....I would much rather have the ability to know I have a seat on our drive back and not have to stand in a long line waiting on a bus.

 

[angwill]

Did someone say being crammed into a bus is enchanting?

Please don't get defensive - we were simply commenting on why some of us prefer the bus, it was not a judgement on those who prefer to drive.

I didn't get defensive in what this person wrote. I just saw it as another opinion. I think they were refering to when you refered to taking the bus was part of the enchantment for you and driving wasn't. I think this person was just explaining that ITHO being crammed in a bus was not something they would consider part of the enchantment. I felt they were just explaining that not everyone likes busses just like not everyone likes driving. Having an autistic child on a bus where everyone is crowding and touching the child would be hell for that child and their family not enchantment.

I have done both and at first the busses didn't really bother then I started driving and just prefered that. I still feel the enchantment of riding the tram to the front of the park and taking the boat/monorail to the MK seeing the castle get closer and closer. Enchantment is in the eye of the beholder I guess.

 

[Disneylvr]

I didn't get defensive in what this person wrote. I just saw it as another opinion. I think they were refering to when you refered to taking the bus was part of the enchantment for you and driving wasn't. I think this person was just explaining that ITHO being crammed in a bus was not something they would consider part of the enchantment. I felt they were just explaining that not everyone likes busses just like not everyone likes driving. Having an autistic child on a bus where everyone is crowding and touching the child would be hell for that child and their family not enchantment.

Yes, that was exactly what I was trying to say. I didn't mean to sound defensive.
In my younger days (early 20's) part of the WDW experience was exclusively using Disney transportation. As I grew older, had a child, I became disenchanted with Disney bus transportation. But that is just me and probably many others that have family members with autism and/or sensory issues.

 

[zianha]

Thank you for the info. And I guess I should have clarified, when I said I was rethinking the trip I only meant whether or not it is better to rely on the transportation or to rent a car, not that I would not go!!! I reread my post and realized I didn't mention what I was rethinking.

Oops! I'm sorry that I automatically assumed you were rethinking your entire trip because of the bus situation! Thanks for clarifying! I should have known better than to think you'd cancel your trip over a potential bus line wait!

 

[disneydiva16]

I do find the monorail enchanting, even in crowded circumstances. That is just part of the MK experience in my opinion. You miss out on that when riding the buses to MK
I didn't mean to sound defensive but I have been through the debate before, buses vs. driving where each side started attacking the other. The buses simply don't work for our family and I should of left it at that. I apologize.

I have to agree. This is going to sound silly but we rented a car for 2 days just so I could ride the tram and the monorail into MK. It's tradition and I just wanted to hear the monorail say that familiar saying "Welcome aboard the Walt Disney World Express Monorail...." I know I know....I said it was silly!!!!!

 

[DizFan13]

I just wanted to hear the monorail say that familiar saying "Welcome aboard the Walt Disney World Express Monorail...." I know I know....I said it was silly!!!!!

That's not silly at all, imo. That is the thing I know I will miss.

 

[Celidh]

All disney resorts are non-smoking. But yes the have the designated smoking areas. I have never had a problem with smoke. But if you are staying in the 50s or the playdoh building. you may want to walk around to the other side. Since there is a smoking section right when you head into the main building on the left hand side. It is kind of hard to avoid it when it is right there.

We requested 50s or 60s building, lakeview. Do you know if we will have to pass through this smoking area when we are coming from the main hall?

For Minnie&Nana, I appreciate the special room cleaning suggestion. I have read about that before. My daughter just has mild asthma, so she will be fine with the normal room cleaning. I'm sure my house has way more dust than any hotel! I still don't want any of my kids being exposed to smoke if I can help it. I know I can't shield them forever, but I will while I still can.

Thank you both for your input.

 

[KELLY]

We requested 50s or 60s building, lakeview. Do you know if we will have to pass through this smoking area when we are coming from the main hall?

For Minnie&Nana, I appreciate the special room cleaning suggestion. I have read about that before. My daughter just has mild asthma, so she will be fine with the normal room cleaning. I'm sure my house has way more dust than any hotel! I still don't want any of my kids being exposed to smoke if I can help it. I know I can't shield them forever, but I will while I still can.

Thank you both for your input.

You don't have to walk threw it. It is against the building. But you will probably have to walk by it.

 

[jenseib]

We have a lot of early morning ADR's at other resorts and we didn't want the hassle of changing buses or having to leave at 7am to make an 8 or 8:30am ADR. I looked into renting a car and found an awesome deal. We went with Alamo located at the Walt Disney Car Care Center. We have a standard SUV for 10 days for $358. When booking I signed up for their Insiders club (free) which gave me 10% off and had a coupon for $40 off a week rental. Not too bad, renting this from the airport would have cost double.

I priced out the taxis estimates from Pop and that would have been just about $200 not including tips, if you are the kind that tips on a taxi. So I guess $150 more is worth it to have a car for 10 days.

I loved the buses our last visit, but having three little ones at the end of a grueling park day....I would much rather have the ability to know I have a seat on our drive back and not have to stand in a long line waiting on a bus.

I just wanted to share with you my experience with Alamo....be sure that the taxes wer already included in the price. I rented from them this past trip. We normally do Hertz as my SIL works for them and gets us a deal, but Alamos deal was MUCH better. We booked it with our airfare. I was bragging up the good deal...till I got home. I found out when picking up the car that none of the taxes were added and we had about $100 more in tax charges.

We requested 50s or 60s building, lakeview. Do you know if we will have to pass through this smoking area when we are coming from the main hall?

For Minnie&Nana, I appreciate the special room cleaning suggestion. I have read about that before. My daughter just has mild asthma, so she will be fine with the normal room cleaning. I'm sure my house has way more dust than any hotel! I still don't want any of my kids being exposed to smoke if I can help it. I know I can't shield them forever, but I will while I still can.

Thank you both for your input.

When walking out of Classic Hall, to the immediate right is the smoking section. Some people wil lstand right by the door too. Just so you know.

 

[Pikester]

Been reading everyone's posts and wanted to add my opinion. We've stayed on property for all 3 of our trips. The first time we didn't not have a car and we used Disney buses. The other two trips we drove to WDW from NH so we had our van to use. We are early risers and were able to leave early enough for the parks that we were almost always only 3 or 4 rows back in the parking lot. We were close enough not to have to take the tram to get to our van. If we wanted to go back to our hotel we would leave our van at the park and take buses back to the resort. We would rest for a couple of hours and then head back to spend the evening at the park and used our van to get back to the resort at closing. We loved having our own transportation.

In regards to the smoking areas. We stayed in the 50s Jukebox and in the 50s Tramp building. There is a smoking area on the main path that goes from the pool area to the Classic Hall. And as others have mentioned there is the smoking area near the back entrance to Classic Hall.

 

[englishrose47]

There is also a smoking area by petals pool at the tables !! I am a smoker , but I smoke in the designated areas . Smoking is also aloowed along the lake side at some spots !!

 

[ILoveWD]

We just got back from a last minute trip to Pop for 8 days. We have never stayed at a value before so we were concerned about the buses.

We never waited more than 16 minutes for a bus at Pop. Usually the buses came much sooner (5-10 minutes). Several times 2 buses showed up right in a row when there were lots of people waiting.

Even the DTD bus came in 5-6 minutes. We have always gone in the off season and had long waits at the Deluxe or mod resorts for buses so maybe going a busy time of the year helped.

We were very pleased with the buses at Pop (June 11th-19th).

If you drive, be careful of things left in your locked car. The one day we drove to EPCOT, someone got in our locked car and stole cash and an Ipod. After that, we stuck to the buses.

 

[alicia080979]

I found the answer to my question! Does anyone have any opinions on the 80's building #9? We love the 80's and will be close to the computer pool...DH is an IT guy plus we will be close the parking lot, bus stop & classic hall so I'm thinking that might be our best best. Does anyone know if it is a far walk from there to the main pool?

 

[KELLY]

I found the answer to my question! Does anyone have any opinions on the 80's building #9? We love the 80's and will be close to the computer pool...DH is an IT guy plus we will be close the parking lot, bus stop & classic hall so I'm thinking that might be our best best. Does anyone know if it is a far walk from there to the main pool?

I always say pick the section the you would like to stay in the most. We did walk over to that section and it seemed quite. Thre was only a handful of people in the pool.

 

[chocovrdmicears]

I found the answer to my question! Does anyone have any opinions on the 80's building #9? We love the 80's and will be close to the computer pool...DH is an IT guy plus we will be close the parking lot, bus stop & classic hall so I'm thinking that might be our best best. Does anyone know if it is a far walk from there to the main pool?

We just returned a few weeks ago - we were in the 80's section, building 8, facing the pool.
It was a 6 minute walk to the main building if you cut across the parking lot. I would highly recommend requesting a non-pool view. The computer pool was crazy loud during out stay. The walk to the main pool is probably a 7 or 8 minute walk.

 

[Disneylvr]

We learned a long time ago never to leave anything of value in our cars, both at home and on vacation. Theft can happen anywhere, even at Disney

 

[angwill]

We learned a long time ago never to leave anything of value in our cars, both at home and on vacation. Theft can happen anywhere, even at Disney

I always worried about someone breaking into our car. I had heard someone say their car got broken into at TL. I kept having to tell DH to get his phone he kept wanting to leave in the car cup holder. Telling him I didn't want to come back to a broken car window. I am happy that in all our trips that we drove down and back we have never had a break in. I too make sure nothing shows but I do have CDs in a CD holder on the visor and always worried about those being there.

 

[Disneylvr]

I always worried about someone breaking into our car. I had heard someone say their car got broken into at TL. I kept having to tell DH to get his phone he kept wanting to leave in the car cup holder. Telling him I didn't want to come back to a broken car window. I am happy that in all our trips that we drove down and back we have never had a break in. I too make sure nothing shows but I do have CDs in a CD holder on the visor and always worried about those being there.

My car was broken in to at home, nothing was stolen but the thief punched a whole in the door to mess with the lock. I guess they didn't want my daughter's Dora the Explorer CD's, LOL! But it cost us the $250 deductible to fix the door and that didn't make me happy but it could of been worse.

Does anyone know if there has ever been a problem with cars being broken into at POP or any other Disney resort?